One of the first steps to take when you start the branding process is to begin defining your brand. It’s also probably one of the more difficult tasks and involves a lot of time spent thinking about your business and target audience. What appeals to them? What do they like? What magazines do they read? Where do they shop? You get the picture. As a visual person, obviously the easiest way for me to do this is…you guessed it, VISUALLY.

So over the past few months I’ve started collaborating with clients on a mood board to kick off their branding package and it has blown my mind! It has turned out to be such a valuable part of the branding process and (I think) super fun for both the client and me. So, today I'm sharing why a mood board can be so important and how to go about creating one to start defining your brand.

I recently sat down at a coffee chat with a networking buddy, and he hits me with this bombshell: his friend quoted what could only be described as a small fortune to do his logo design. His disbelief was evident, which led me to drop my own bombshell: I wouldn't do a logo design for less than three times that amount. Cue the disbelief and raised eyebrows. Let me be clear, you don't need a crazy expensive logo to get the job done if it's not worth the price tag to you. But it is important to recognize that a logo isn't just a doodle. It's the face of your business, and that's worth a bit more than pocket change. Here’s why I charge what I do for a well-crafted logo design.

“Your prices gave me a bit of sticker shock, to be honest.“

“I can’t justify spending thousands and not walking away with physical items.“

“Well I can find someone else to do the exact same thing cheaper.“

These are all things I’ve heard from people during consult calls for my branding services. I think tact sometimes goes out the window when it comes to talking about money, but I get it. My services are expensive. Not as expensive as some, but more expense than others. And I’m not planning to lower them anytime soon because I know exactly what goes into those services. Creating a strategic, intentional brand from scratch is one of the hardest parts of building your marketing toolkit. It’s so much harder than throwing together 264 different looking graphics just because the templates are available on Canva. So let me break down some of the maybe unseen value that you’re getting when you book a brand package with an experienced designer (like me!).

I recently had a conversation with a friend about who my favorite people to work with are and I realized that one thing all my favorite clients have in common is that they’re brimming with personality. Not only do they have loads of personality, but they’ve let me inject it into their brand to make a one-of-a-kind identity for them. By doing this with their brand, they are already building a relationship with their target audience.